Every Product Placement in ‘Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation’

BMW recently spoke with brandchannel about its role in Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible franchise, especially its juiced-up role in the newest Rogue Nation sequel.

But BMW isn’t the only brand that has a long-term relationship with Mission: Impossible.

Mission: Impossible is 19 years old this year. Incidentally, the modern Apple PowerBook is the same age. While Tom Cruise was rejuvenating Mission: Impossible, Apple was rebranding its PowerBook laptop. Apple and Mission: Impossible even teamed up in a very public ad campaign that would likely stun today’s Apple fans.

Apple’s tie-in with Mission: Impossible was so conventional that it might be difficult for younger Apple fans to believe—with none of the sleekness, the Steve Jobs-iness that Apple consumers know today. (Indeed, just months after the original Mission: Impossible was released, Apple inked the deal to bring Jobs back to the company.) Mission: Impossible’s Apple tie-in is hokey, complete with a silly pun tagline, like a happy-meal movie promo but for adults: “After you see the movie, pick up ‘the book.’”

(BMW can also claim a Mission: Impossible pedigree going back to the original 1996 film. Early on in the film, a BMW 316i appears for a brief scene. In a second scene, it explodes.)

Apple’s original Mission: Impossible campaign was unique because it created a “Web Adventure” tie-in microsite, which is no longer running. It might be considered the great grandfather of the recent Jurassic World theme park site promotion.

A June 1996 press release describes the huge success of Apple’s online Mission: Impossible tie-in, including “47,000 hits even without being registered on any search engines.” Today, the first few paragraphs of the press release seem quaint and fun to read:

“MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE” MOVIE WEBSITE AND WEB ADVENTURE SITE BECOME TWO OF THE HOTTEST DESTINATIONS ON THE INTERNET

Internet surfers from Argentina to Zambia and nearly 70 other nations have visited the sites, with “hits” registered from the British Parliament, the U.S. Congress, NASA, and the U.S. Armed Forces, among many others. Combined, Paramount and Apple’s “Mission: Impossible” sites have been attracting an average of 2 million “hits” per day.

It’s notable that after Ghost Protocol was packed with Apple products, the brand is missing from the new Mission: Impossible, replaced by Nokia and Windows.

Now, every product or brand mentioned or appearing in Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation: